NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Two corrections officers accused of helping smuggle sheets of K-2 into Rikers Island were busted on Thursday along with 11 alleged gang members and associates, officials said.
The arrests were part of a previous indictment filed in Brooklyn federal court accusing 45 defendants connected to the Bed-Stuy-based Bully Gang of crimes that include attempted murder, extortion, and drug trafficking conspiracy.
Between June 2019 and June 2020, Johnny Chiles, 36, currently employed by DOC as an officer, and then-DOC officer Darius Murphy, 24, accepted payments from gang associates in exchange for delivering papers soaked in K2, a synthetic cannabinoids to inmates at Rikers Island.
The jailed co-defendants earned thousands by selling the papers that Chiles and murphy allegedly brought into the jail, officials said.
Prosecutors allege that defendant Nehemie Eril, 24, nicknamed “Poca”, the longtime girlfriend of Bully Gang founder and imprisoned co-defendant Moeleek “Moe Money” Harrell was allegedly an instrumental part of the arrangement.
Harrell, who was jailed at Rikers at the time, allegedly coordinated deliveries with Eril, bribes correction officers and collected sales proceeds, the detention memo said.
“For years, members and associates of the Bully Gang have committed brutal and wanton acts of violence while spreading the poison of dangerous and illicit drugs throughout communities and even correctional institutions, Acting US Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement.
The organization allegedly trafficked large quantities of crack, heroin and fentanyl between New York and Maine and laundered the proceeds through luxury car and jewelry purchases.
A part of the gang’s drug-trafficking operation was based in Maine and managed by Derrick Ayers, who had been previously indicted and is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, prosecutors said.
Ayers is charged with attempted murder alongside Harrell for using a Taser-like device to electrocute a woman as she begged him to stop in an attempt to knock off a rival, according to court papers.
Prosecutors did not disclose what led up to the 2018 electrocution said in the caught-on-video assault, “victim-1 fell, screamed in pain, and repeatedly yelled, ‘please don’t,’ ‘stop,’ and ‘sorry,’ but Ayers allegedly did not stop.
Agents seized $380,000 in cash, 15 guns, six kilos of cocaine, 600 grams of fentanyl, and four cars outfitted with concealed “trap” compartments where "an occupant triggered using a complex string of commands entered via switches for the vehicle’s headlights, radio, windows, among other things,” in trap houses throughout Maine and one in New Jersey, the detention memo states.
Chiles is still a correction officer but Murphy is no longer working for DOC, according to federal officials.
Kassin Appling, 34, also known as “Killa” and “Kassim”, Ronald Davis, 29, also known as “Ronno”, Brittany Duncan, 26, Laron Estrada, 27, also known as “Yetta”, Robert Holt, 33, also known as “Ricky” and “Ghost”, and Jamel Smith were also arrested and are set to be arraigned at a later date.